Page 48 - Food & Drink Business Magazine March 2019

SUSTAINABILITY AND ENERGY
Brewing up change
Lavazza is working with local communities and partnering in land restitution programs and other sustainability projects, including bringing internet connectivity to the region.
A LOCAL FOCUS
In a first for the company, the beans for all three brews will be transported to Australia and roasted locally in Melbourne.
“These products have Italianness at the centre,
and highlight Lavazza’s commitment to spreading quality and authentic coffee experiences worldwide,” APAC Business Unit Director & Lavazza Australia managing director Silvio Zaccareo says.
“By locally roasting beans in Melbourne, Lavazza further cements its commitment to the Australian market and to adapting key products to local customer tastes.”
Zaccareo told Food & Drink Business that Lavazza buys the green coffee beans in line with its strict global guidelines. He also said that coffee consumers are continuing to evolve and become more discerning, with 38 per cent of coffee drinkers now willing to pay a premium for product with an ethical or sustainable element.
Savvy coffee companies have worked hard, some for many years, to improve supply chain transparency. We hear from Lavazza on its Tierra project, and its links with the recent Australian Open
tennis grand slam.
GLOBAL Italian family coffee company Lavazza has strong links to the world of tennis. Last year it served one million coffees across four international tournaments, and this year it took the opportunity to introduce a new range of premium local roasts – Kafa, Tierra Brasil, and Tierra Colombia – at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Italian roaster has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. It was established in 1895 in Turin, and is now one of the world’s most prominent roasters, with 27 billion cups of Lavazza coffee drunk yearly worldwide.
Lavazza attributes its high brand awareness to partnerships such as with the Grand Slam tennis tournaments – The Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Lavazza was included in the Reputation Institute’s Global RepTrak 2018 as one of the top 100 brands in the world and also one of the most sustainable.
The three new roasts are focused on the food service segment.Kafaisarare100per
cent single-origin Arabica product hailing from the birthplace of coffee plants – the World Heritage listed and UNESCO “Biosphere Reserve” Kafa forest region in Ethiopia.
The other two new products are part of the Tierra project, which was launched in 2002 under the guidance of the Lavazza Foundation to improve
“ By locally roasting beans in Melbourne, Lavazza further cements its commitment to the Australian market and to adapting key products to local consumer tastes.”
48 | Food&Drink business | March 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au
the living conditions, social development and economic growth of coffee farming communities, while respecting the environment.
Tierra Brasil is a combination of Arabica coffee and washed conillon (Robusta), grown at a Lavazza Foundation partner plantation in Lambari, Brazil.
Tierra Colombia is a 100 per cent Arabica coffee roast originating from the Meta RegionofColombia,where
“Lavazza started this journey 16 years ago, looking at the environmental and social issues, including the living conditions of coffee growers,” Zaccareo says. “It's a very fragile value chain, with very small coffee growers,
so it's important to support them and make sure negotiations are fair.”
The Tierra project has grown over the years from three regions to now include morethan20projects. ✷